Rendering for an interactive 360 degree light field display

Abstract

An interactive, autostereoscopic system for displaying an object in 3D includes a mirror configured to spin around a vertical axis when actuated by a motor, a high speed video projector, and a processing system including a graphics card interfaced to the video projector. An anisotropic reflector is bonded onto an inclined surface of the mirror. The video projector projects video signals of the object from the projector onto the inclined surface of the mirror while the mirror is spinning, so that light rays representing the video signals are redirected toward a field of view of a 360 degree range. The processing system renders the redirected light rays so as to interactively generate a horizontal-parallax 3D display of the object. Vertical parallax can be included in the display by adjusting vertically the displayed views of the object, in response to tracking of viewer motion by a tracking system.

1 . (canceled) 
     
     
         2 . A system for generating a 3D display of an object in 3D space, comprising:
 a display system that renders multiple different images of the object, each different image being projected from the display system at substantially the same time at a different angle within a first viewing plane and representing how the object would look if actually viewed from that angle within the first viewing plane, without the viewer having to wear any special glasses or headgear;   a tracking system that tracks the position of a viewer of one of the images in a second viewing plane that is substantially perpendicular to the first viewing plane; and   a processing system that receives information from the tracking system indicative of the position of the viewer in the second viewing plane and, in response, causes the display system to render the image of the object that the viewer is viewing as the object would look if actually viewed from the position of the viewer within the second viewing plane, without the viewer having to wear any special glasses or headgear.   
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the first viewing plane is substantially horizontal and the second viewing plane is substantially vertical. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein each image of the object is an autostereoscopic image of the object. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein:
 the tracking system is configured to track the positions of multiple viewers in the second viewing plane substantially simultaneously, each while at different positions in the second viewing plane; and 
 the processing system receives information from the tracking system indicative of the position of each of the viewers in the second viewing plane and, in response, causes the display system to render the image of the object that each viewer is viewing as the object would look if actually viewed from the position of the viewer within the second viewing plane, without any of the viewers having to wear any special glasses or headgear. 
 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the first viewing plane is substantially horizontal and the second viewing plane is substantially vertical. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the tracking system includes one or more video cameras configured to observe the multiple viewers. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 5  wherein the tracking system includes one or more depth cameras configured to track the position of the multiple viewers. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the different angles within the first viewing plane span a range of approximately 360 degrees. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the display system includes a rotating anisotropic surface. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the tracking system includes a magnetic tracking device configured to track the position of the viewer.